Long before Pawel Jaworski emerged as one of Europe’s most promising grapplers, he was simply a young boy from Poland trying to get in better shape.
Now at just 21 years old, Jaworski is preparing to challenge reigning ONE Welterweight Submission Grappling World Champion Tye Ruotolo at ONE Fight Night 41, scheduled for March 13 at Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok.
His rise to the top of the sport began with a simple decision made by his father.
Here is what he had to say in a recent interview with the ONE Championship:
I started with martial arts because of a friend of my dad. Also, I was quite chubby, so my dad signed me up for judo to lose some weight and be active.
His friend trained in judo, so that was the way I started.I started with jiu-jitsu when I was 11, but previously I trained in judo for five years.
So in general, I started with combat sports when I was six. Since the beginning, I’ve been on the mat.
However, growing up in the small Polish town of Mława, Jaworski faced limited opportunities for high-level training.
Eventually, he made the decision to leave home and pursue better training opportunities in Warsaw:
Previously, it wasn’t easy to do jiu-jitsu in Poland, especially in the city I was living in. I was living in a smaller town.
I was thinking how I could connect my future with jiu-jitsu, and it was to move from my hometown to a bigger city to have the possibility to learn from classes, seminars, and privates.
The move brought him to Academia Gorila, where he began training under coach Marcin Polczyk.
And, well, Jaworski earned his black belt at just 21 years old and immediately made an impact on the international scene.
In his first year at the rank, he won titles at the No-Gi Pan Championships, No-Gi European Championships, and No-Gi World Championships.
Despite his rapid rise, Jaworski remains grounded about his accomplishments:
I’m nobody special. I’m just a guy from Poland who trains in jiu-jitsu. And somehow I was able to reach the level where I can compete with the best guys in the world.
I’m just living the life that I dreamed of as a kid when I started with jiu-jitsu.
He admits that the sport consumes nearly all of his time & attention:
I’m obsessed with jiu-jitsu. I don’t have any other hobbies. I just focus on that.
I’m always thinking about jiu-jitsu, and that is my whole life.
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